Lakeport officials participate in long-range planning workshop

LAKEPORT -- Lakeport officials took part in a daylong meeting Friday as part of their effort to reinvent the city's strategy for long-range planning.

"I've been in the public sector for 40 years; best training I've been to," Mayor Tom Engstrom said. "We need to follow up now."

The city contracted with Michelle Murphy, of San Anselmo-based InnoPro Performance Solutions, to facilitate the planning session Friday at Lakeport City Hall.

Titled "Preparing the path for the future," the meeting allowed city council members and department heads the chance to interact with each other, bounce ideas back-and-forth, participate in activities and learn pivotal planning tools for the future.

"We can have visionary milestones for ourselves," Murphy told the city representatives.

During the meeting, the officials voted communication between council members and staff as the city's top strength and the level of interaction with the community as its most significant weakness.

The officials outlined a set of five strategic goals for the city government moving forward: staff development, community involvement, public outreach, economic development and infrastructure.

"It was a really good conversation, and it's really good to know that everybody came to a consensus on what our top priorities are," City Manager Margaret Silveira said after the meeting.

Murphy said she would prepare a report and list of recommendations based on Friday's workshop for city representatives to use as they work to implement their future goals.